Trickle Charge to 100% Every Night

[karma]

Is it okay to trickle charge to 100% each night? Typically I'm at the 30 to 50 percent range when I plug in. Is this good, bad or indifferent for the battery?

 

[RegGuheert]

Is it okay to trickle charge to 100% each night? Typically I'm at the 30 to 50 percent range when I plug in. Is this good, bad or indifferent for the battery?

As long as you have enough time to recharge, you should be fine. I'm estimating the charge takes 10 to 12 hours...

Just be sure to check the plug occasionally to ensure that it does not overheat.

 

[Pipcecil]

There shouldn't be any problems with that. Overheating is rare (the cord is made to handle the load) - I have done this plenty of times for weeks on end.

 

[hill]

Welcome !!
Nissan says the more frequently you go 100% the quicker you'll start loosing GOM bars. Warmer weather makes a negative3 difference too (like in Maui)
I've gone over 40K miles in over 3 years. 90% of my charges are only the middle 50% - charging from bar 4 to bar 8. I'm sure I'll lose bar 12 any time now but I still got it goin' on.
:lol:
.

 

[apvbguy]

Welcome !!
Nissan says the more frequently you go 100% the quicker you'll start loosing GOM bars. Warmer weather makes a negative3 difference too (like in Maui)
I've gone over 40K miles in over 3 years. 90% of my charges are only the middle 50% - charging from bar 4 to bar 8. I'm sure I'll lose bar 12 any time now but I still got it goin' on.
:lol:
.

do you have any data to back this up?
FWIW:
I live in FLA ( fairly warm climate), I've had my LEAF for 16 months, I charge to 100% as needed and I haven't lost a bar yet.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Welcome !!
Nissan says the more frequently you go 100% the quicker you'll start loosing GOM bars. Warmer weather makes a negative3 difference too (like in Maui)
I've gone over 40K miles in over 3 years. 90% of my charges are only the middle 50% - charging from bar 4 to bar 8. I'm sure I'll lose bar 12 any time now but I still got it goin' on.
:lol:
.

your stats are amazing considering your location but I also think your efficient driving techniques also play a part and you can thank your Prius for giving you the time to master the techniques. after all; its cycling that degrades the pack, not miles and if you can get a bit further on a cycle, the better!

as far as charging to anything. if you are at 30-50% that means you used 50-70% that day and sounds like you really don't have much of a choice but to charge up every day

 

[keydiver]

If you are going to charge to 100%, it is best to just set a STOP timer for shortly before you leave in the morning. That way the car doesn't start charging until the time it calculates that it needs to start to finish by the STOP time. Sitting for a long time at 100% charge will degrade your battery, but not nearly as much as heat. Also, 100% isn't really 100% anyway, as Nissan has reserved a bit of the battery charge just for this reason.

 

[jsongster]

If you are going to charge to 100%, it is best to just set a STOP timer for shortly before you leave in the morning. That way the car doesn't start charging until the time it calculates that it needs to start to finish by the STOP time. Sitting for a long time at 100% charge will degrade your battery, but not nearly as much as heat. Also, 100% isn't really 100% anyway, as Nissan has reserved a bit of the battery charge just for this reason.

++1 End Timers set to just before you leave let you ensure that the battery doesn't sit long at 100%. That combined with heat can be damaging over time. Driving very fast all the time is damaging also apparently.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If you are going to charge to 100%, it is best to just set a STOP timer for shortly before you leave in the morning. That way the car doesn't start charging until the time it calculates that it needs to start to finish by the STOP time.

Just keep in mind that the Leaf is terrible at calculating end times for L-1 charging, and it will likely finish early anyway. It appears that the calculator uses the lower Japanese voltage standard to guesstimate the time. After a few charges you may be able to adjust the end time so it really IS the end time.

 

[TimLee]

There shouldn't be any problems with that. Overheating is rare (the cord is made to handle the load) - I have done this plenty of times for weeks on end.

The risk is poorly installed and/or overloaded outlets.
See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
:shock: :shock:

 

[mxp]

Is it okay to trickle charge to 100% each night? Typically I'm at the 30 to 50 percent range when I plug in. Is this good, bad or indifferent for the battery?

I would say, trickle charging is always better to preserve your battery - Definitely NOT to 100% every time, but perhaps twice a week is good for balancing the cells.

If I had to do it all over again, I would use trickle charging rather than L2, as my friend (Blue Leaf) did here:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=12789&start=470" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[monkeychops28]

After a few charges you may be able to adjust the end time so it really IS the end time.

If I am at about 30% SOC and want to get to 100% by 8.30am, I have to set the timer to finish charging at 9.00am and it gets it about right.
If it starts at less than 30% then it finishes too early and if it's more than 30% then if finishes too late.

This is a Gen 1 Leaf on 240V UK electricity, 16A home charge point.

 

[donald]

Can you not simply set the timer to start at a time at which it will give you enough charge to complete your needs for the next day, by the time you leave?

Nissan says the more frequently you go 100% the quicker you'll start loosing GOM bars. .....

do you have any data to back this up?....

I realise you're referring to the later comments, but I presume you'll agree there's no need to try to back the first comment up?

If you don't believe what Nissan says then is that just a habit for preferring what anecdotes owners come up with over manufacturers, or just a lack of faith in the people that actually made your car?

 

[monkeychops28]

Can you not simply set the timer to start at a time at which it will give you enough charge to complete your needs for the next day, by the time you leave?

This won't work if you arrive home with a different state of charge every time. If you want to minimise the time your Leaf is sitting at 100% then ideally you need to set the end time.

Unfortunately my commute is 53 miles to am having to charge to 100% twice a day in weekdays.

 

[donald]

What I tend to do is I will leave to charge fully one day while sleeping then use maybe ~60% charge the next day, down to 40%, give it a recharge to ~70% as soon as I get home next evening and unplug before bedtime (say, 3 hrs to 4 hrs worth), then at end of the second day it can get a recharge to 100%, or near, again.

So by manually starting the charging either early evening for a short charge, or bed time or thereabouts for a 'full' charge, you can get the SOC to do much as you would want over a sequence of days, and avoid 100% as much as poss.

 

[monkeychops28]

It's still a bit annoying that the 'End Time' timer isn't very accurate.

It's also even more inaccurate if I switch from L1 charging (at work) to L2 (at home). My Leaf doesn't adjust, so if I have an end timer set, it starts charging on the assumption that I'm still doing a L1 charge. So in other words it would finish way too early and sit around at 100% for several hours in the early hours of the morning.

The workaround is to press the timer cancel button, plug in the L2 home charger for a minimum of 45 seconds, then unplug and plug back in. It seems to take 45 seconds before the Leaf 'learns' it's now connected to a L2 charger.

Interestingly (to me) I haven't seen anyone post about this issue, ever.

(in my case L1 = 10A 240V, L2 = 16A 240V)

 

[donald]

You'll get used to the way your car charges. Once you have, you'll do better looking at your watch with an educated eye than looking at any estimates on the dash to judge the end-charge time.